I have a question about the Tempered Will (schola progenum/blighted schola trait). What happens, if PC from schola test makes a willpower test with multiple modifiers. For example, sorcerer from blighted schola has rolled 99 on Perils of warp table. He must pass very hard(-30) test, but he is fatigued(-10) and in daemonic presence(-10). What happens?

1. Character from schola will never recieve modifier worse than (-20).

2.Tests with modifiers worse than -20 will be one step easier, than normal. (-30) becomes (-20), (-40) becomes (-30) and so on.

3.Only very hard test becomes hard, there is no effect for tests with modifiers worse than (-30).

Sorry for my english.

Following strict RAW, I would say the base Willpower Test drops from (-30) to (-20) by Tempered Will. Then you add the additional fatigue penalty and so the test is, all up, taken at a -30 penalty.

It is my understanding that Tempered Will is checked against the base test difficulty itself, without any additional modifiers for resistances, drugs, fatigue, or traumas etc. Therefre, if you were taking a (-20) test whilst fatigued, it would be at (-30) all up, as the initial test is not hard enough to warrant a decrease from the Trait, and then the additional modifier(s) pile on.

Also, by strict RAW I would say that tests at (-40) or worse would not be reduced because I believe the text exclusively states (-30) tests only, but I may be wrong. I would personally houserule it to apply to any harder tests anyways, as the only other stuff a S.P. character really gets is a few untrained basic lores and social penalties when slumming it in the underhive.

The Tempered Will trait comes from a time where the difficulty of non-WS/BS tests was generally capped at -30. Thus, you first calculate and add up all the modifiers. If you arrive at a number lower than -30, you cap them at -30, which in the case of a Schola boy gets modified again to -20.

Taking into account Ascension rules (which put the cap up to +/-60), I'd generally grant him a +10 bonus to any willpower test that arrives at a -30 or worse when all else is added up.